29 April 2009

No, I'm not posting the same picture from earlier on in the week. If you look closely, it's different. My husband offered my cake services to a Russian friend for his wedding today. It was a fun project. The chocolate '&' was bothering Bryn, so when he arrived at the wedding this morning, he very carefully flipped it over so it no longer looked like a cursive 'S'.

28 April 2009

Sophie with Miffy--

* 4 weeks old
* Sophie smiles frequently and has started to utter the cutest little 'coos' every once in a while
* Nosh is still her number one favourite, with bath time coming in a close second
* She's a star sleeper. 10:30pm bed time, waking anytime between 5:30 and 6:30am
* Little Sophie is starting to focus on objects in a room and loves to stare
* We're all so in love with this little angel in our lives

27 April 2009

Madison loves to take a photo a day with her little camera too.

26 April 2009

Our baby is growing like a weed.

25 April 2009

The finished product, ready for delivery.

24 April 2009

Today's project was baking, icing and decorating an order for a 40th birthday. I was quite crazy to accept this project with a 3 week old baby.

23 April 2009

A baker's dream, well in Holland anyway. I learned long ago that icing sugar in Holland is not what I'm used to. Its high glucose content prevents it from setting, giving it a glistening wet look. It's disastrous stuff {meant to be used as pancake sprinkle sugar}. The Dutch aren't big bakers, so this would explain the lack of availability of ingredients and supplies. Icing sugar imported from the UK has been my only option--at Eur2 per 500g box! And most cakes require at least 4 boxes.

My friend Fiona saved the day as usual and introduced me to her new find -- "Bakkerspoeder" from Sligro. 10 kg for Eur12! Hooray.

22 April 2009

Savannah very kindly prepared the school lunches this evening. She made a ham and cheese sandwich for Madison, a cheese sandwich for herself, and remembered to include fresh tomatoes and cucumber slices. She organised the water bottles and wrote names on the juice boxes. I opened the fridge this evening and voila, lunch magically sitting there, ready to be packed into school bags in the morning. She's wonderful.

21 April 2009

Sophie with Miffy--

* 3 weeks old
* Sophie smiles
* She loves bath time. I enjoy this quiet time with her at 9:30pm when the other little people in the house are fast asleep
* She very kindly gave me 8 hours of sleep last night
* Thank heavens for the dummy. Sophie and I love it
* She looks most like Savannah and even has her curls
* Sophie weighs 3.9kg and is 54cm long

20 April 2009

A staple in the Harries home.

19 April 2009

Another blossom shot. It's one of my favourite things to do these days. The girls and I are on a mission to find the most beautiful spring trees.

18 April 2009

Sophie's first trip to the beach. We met up with fun friends, Talitha and Camaron Cornish and their 3 kiddies, Kiyomi, Killian and Finnley.

17 April 2009

A road filled with blossom trees. Luckily I had my camera with me. I had to pull over into a one way street to take this shot.

16 April 2009

First attempt since Sophie's arrival, at entertaining new Russian friends, Julia and Andrei. It was a fun evening, but a busy day for me!

15 April 2009

Sophie and I ventured out together to do the grocery shopping for the first time. I like to do a weekly shop (and get it over with), but haven't quite figured out how I can do this with a new baby. Her seat doesn't slide into the seat part of the trolley, so takes up all the space in the trolley, leaving little room for groceries. Will have to pay a visit more often for smaller shops in the mean time.

14 April 2009

Sophie with Miffy--

* 2 weeks old.
* Sophie is a great little eater.
* She's a good little sleeper (when she doesn't have thrush in her mouth). Thrush has been the cause of a couple sleepless nights, but now that we have it diagnosed and medication prescribed, things should start improving quickly. She can give us a 6 hour stretch at night already.
* Sophie loves her big sisters. She has a soft spot for Savannah and will lie cradled in her arms for ages, just staring into her eyes.
* She's strong! Held her head up from day 1 and when lying on my chest, will push with her legs and feet to nuzzle up in the nape of my neck.
* Sophie has created such a din at school. Everyone knows her name and wants to stare, touch and cuddle her. I was tempted to get Savannah to run in on her own this morning, to avoid all of that, but she asked so sweetly, how could I say no? I had to disinfect her when we got home!

13 April 2009

My poor little Madison has an ear infection. Life with a sick little girl + a newborn = a laid back day.

12 April 2009

Huggable, kissable, edible Sophie

11 April 2009

Savannah has inherited a gene from my sister Gemma that most certainly skipped me. SEWING! I'm the type that prefers fabric glueing to sewing. Anything to get around the laborious pinning, stitching and in my case, constant unpicking! She has had the opportunity to complete a couple of sewing projects at school and has enjoyed each one. We passed a toy store the other day and she begged to go inside to look for a sewing project. We couldn't find anything, so plan B it was. I had some fabric and needles and cotton for her to at least create something at home. I taught her the extent of what I know (threading a needle, knotting it and making basic hand stitches). She came up with the rest. She made a little cushion cover that afternoon and got started on another heart cushion cover that evening. It's been fun watching her so engrossed. Madison has since begged to learn, so she has been teaching her little sister all she knows.

10 April 2009

Savannah's teacher at school very kindly gifted Sophie a beautiful little blue dress and matching shoes for spring. It came in this very retro looking box from H&M. I've attended many babyshowers over the past little while and always purchase baby clothing from this store. I have, up until now, thought that the gift box is quite boring and unbaby like. Knowing me, that box would have been long gone, had I not noticed baby Sophie's fixation to the black and white design. Gathering a bunch of black and white pictures was on my to-do list, but this will most definitely suffice for now. It's become Sophie's definite number 1 toy so far! Watching a child play with (or in this case, stare at) a box should convince us that kids don’t need elaborate lesson plans and expensive toys in order to learn. Sometimes all they need is…a box! Anything to keep a baby content, right?

9 April 2009

Remember I was toying with the very Dutch idea of having a stork announce to the neighbourhood that our baby arrived? Well, here it is--the stork that flew into the carport. Bryn put it up when I was in hospital. I am amazed at the love and excitement that has been shown to us over the last week. The Dutch really celebrate the birth of a child. It's a big deal to them. I felt like a celebrity at school yesterday when I went to collect the girls for the first time. I got hugs and kisses and congratulations, cards and presents. The caretaker came to kiss me, just about every teacher in the school knew her name, the principal said she's keeping a place for Sophie. I deliberately went a little late, so to avoid a fuss, but I had no idea that being 5 minutes late (the Dutch are very prompt at collecting their children), which is late, would cost me an hour of showing off our sweet baby. Imagine if I had arrived on time!

8 April 2009

I have enjoyed getting out of the house. It's been the first time in just over a week and I'm amazed at the transformation of creation in just that short space of time. Spring has most definitely sprung and it's so exciting! We ooh and aah over the variety and abundance of 'popcorn' trees wherever we go.

7 March 2009

Roses from my honey. When Sophie and I returned home, I found the most beautiful note from Bryn on the kitchen table. He has showered me with flowers, time, help and love. It's made this big transition so special.

6 April 2009

Who is who? Take a guess by leaving a comment below.

5 April 2009

Sunday morning cuddles. I love watching Savannah with Sophie. She's amazing and Sophie stares adoringly into her eyes.

4 April 2009

Bianca, the fantastic kraamzorg (nurse). She spent the majority of day entertaining the girls with jewellery making and icing cookies. Sophie and I had gone shopping for Savannah and Madison a few weeks ago and picked out a few little items for them to open from their new baby sister at the hospital. (Another of Bryn's great parenting tricks). The jewellery was one of the gifts. They had such a fun time with Bianca.

3 April 2009

First day home. The big girls enjoyed a sleepover at the Reese's and Bryn and I got to bond with our littlest angel for a day.

2 April 2009

Daddy daughter bonding time. Too precious.

1 April 2009

Still puffy from birth. Cuddling and soaking in each moment with my sweet newborn during the quiet early hours of the morning.

31 March 2009

The long awaited reunion. Sophie Claire meets Savannah and Madison.

30 March 2009

Our last night together as a family of 4. The girls went to sleep at Fiona's house so Bryn and I could leave first thing in the morning for the hospital.